


Marked For Death

by LotharWinchester



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Gun Violence, Hershel's Farm, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Torture, Khan's crew - Freeform, Not Beta Read, Sexual Content, Sharing a Bed, The Walking Dead Crossover, The walking dead season 1 and 2 references, Zombie Apocalypse, mention of canon elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2017-12-31 04:43:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1027351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LotharWinchester/pseuds/LotharWinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>2015 update: I just want to say thank you to everyone that has read this story.  The original cabin I based mine off of for the story still exists.  </p>
<p>Here is a link: http://www.vermontproperty.com/detail/Vermont/northeast-kingdom-rentals/415/#.VgDHyctViko although, I believe it is owned by a different person now.  </p>
<p>The German later on in this story will not be from Google translate, I'm still trying to learn so I will continually edit it if there are mistakes pointed out.</p>
        </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It hadn’t been very long after the Outbreak that our paths crossed. I had mistaken him for a Walker at first, his black hair had been slicked back with blood and it had splattered against his pale, well defined cheekbones. He did not move or open his eyes when I shot down the small herd of Walkers that had surrounded him.

_“It’s rare to meet someone willing to die for someone they do not know.”_  He grasped the still warm barrel of the sliver pistol I gripped tightly in my left hand to draw it away from his face. His tattered steel colored trench coat flapped discouragingly in the light breeze as he slowly stood.

Main Street had become a prime spot for Walkers in the last few weeks, So finding someone alive and well had seemed like a pipe dream.  
The first two weeks, the living dominated the mixture of locally owned shops and the occasional national franchise. Families huddled around phones until the power went out. Luckily, the Army National Guard had set up a temporary shelter at the hospital for those coming in from the backwoods and many congregated there.

Unfortunately, the hospital became the epicenter for the Outbreak and it spread faster than Pneumonia had a few years prior. Many refused to leave dead loved ones and, in turn, added to the large population. They broke down the chain link fence surrounding make shift tents in the parking lot in search for more…  _food_.

The dark haired man’s movements from then on were fluid with the remnants of a metal fence pole clenched in his right hand. He cleared the way for me and continually looked back to make sure I kept up with his brutal  and demanding pace. Something in his ever changing blue green eyes refused to remain hidden. Confusion, agitation, anguish maybe?

“I have a car not far from here.” I hadn’t had a drop to drink in two days so the statement sounded more like I’d gargled a of bag of rocks than anything intelligible.

“Show me.” He wiped his hand on his black pants and tugged at the empty right sleeve of my plaid shirt.

* * *

 

Familiar places flitted past as we ducked past original brick buildings. I allowed him to firmly grip the empty sleeve while he kept the few Walkers in front of him at bay. Once they were dispatched, he yanked the material towards him. “I’m going to pick you up.” With ease, he knelt down and lifted me onto his broad shoulders just as I managed to holster my gun.

A little squeak ached as it climbed up my throat and escaped my lips. “About fifty feet to your right once we get behind this building.” I swallowed, “Aidenn, by the way.”

“Khan.” He grunted as his pole squelched and slid clean through another Walker’s head then back out again.

When the way was clear, he bent down beside the passenger door of my sister’s black Escalade and I quickly slid down his rigid back. The door slammed shut once were both seated inside.

Khan stared blankly for a moment at the steering wheel before he took the keys from my outstretched hand and turned them in the ignition. “Do you know how to drive?”

He stared at the useless Garmin in my hands with disdain, “Yes,” His attention refocused on the road as he asked for directions. “However, it has been a while.”

“Where are we?” He asked as his hands shifted on the wheel.

“Littelton, New Hampshire.” I smiled sadly as a lone Walker caught my eye. It banged against a ground level window inside the book store.

“Keep heading straight and I’ll tell you when to turn.” Khan’s hand gently reached out to remove the GPS from my hand. “You should slow down too…” Khan growled and I took it as a signal to stop speaking. I continued to watch as houses passed and eventually came to a three way stop. “Turn left here and follow the road.”  His large right hand gripped the suicide knob on my steering wheel to allow his left arm to rest on the door. “93 and 91 are clear for the most part. My house is the last one in on Miles Pond. It’s across the border and about a half hour drive from here.”

\----

I promptly passed out once I’d given him the directions and came to several hours later in my living room. For a moment, I felt bad for leaving him to more or less find the place on his own. 

My sister, April, owned a small two level cabin on the waterfront where we watched the leaves turn every fall. We would sit in lawn chairs precariously perched in the backyard and bundle up in warm blankets until our father came to bring us in for the night.  Now only a few straggling walkers had come from nearby turned neighbors by following the dirt road down in search of food.

I groaned and sat up with my back pressed against the recently acquired worn leather couch. I chuckled at the memory of April  and her boyfriend Max hauling it in. I jumped when Khan’s palm rested on my left shoulder.

“You passed out from dehydration and over exertion.” His hand covered my left to help me hold it.

“Just because I have one arm doesn’t mean I can’t hold a damn cup.” I grumbled before swallowing the contents in one gulp. When I opened my eyes again, Khan’s gaze had darkened. “Sorry, it’s been a few weeks since I’ve seen anyone living.”

Khan nodded while he crossed the living area of the cabin with my now empty cup in hand and I could see he had made himself busy waiting for me to wake up. A steady fire was going in the small stone fireplace with a decent stack of wood set in the metal rack beside it. All of the items i’d collected from the mini mart had been brought inside and some of them had been put away in their correct cabinets.

Khan came back into view and I gasped softly. He had taken one of Max’s jackets out of the hall closet, the one I’d bought him last year for Christmas. It remained unzipped and hugged his bared muscular frame.

"I’m wearing something that belong to someone you cared about." He stated as he moved closer with a cup of hot cocoa. How he had warmed the water for it was beyond me. The cabin had lost electricity two days before and the camp stove had broken in my clumsy attempt to take it down from the top shelf. Khan started to slide the dark brown parka down his shoulders but I shook my head.

"No, keep it on." I bit my lip and accepted the second drink, "It’s going to be cold tonight."

Khan nodded and slipped one of the warm llama blankets over my shoulders before he sat down beside me.

"I noticed the photos." He pointed to the few photos stuck to the fridge with magnets. The unspoken question of _Are they still alive?_ hung bitterly in the air between us.

I shook my head and wiped a few tears away from my eyes. “No, they turned a few weeks ago.” I gulped and motioned with my head to the backyard. “My sister was still alive.” I sighed and set the mug down on the glass table set evenly in front of the couch, “She was a nurse and she was the one who made sure my amputation was a success.”

Khan remained neutral and handed me the cup back. “She was killed?”

"One of my neighbors had turned as well and attacked her when she came home from a run…" I cringed as the memory flashed briefly. "Max was the one who attacked me. He bit my arm and my sister cut it off with the wood cutting ax outside." My voice wavered and I tried not to cry.

Khan grabbed another blanket and stood. “You need more rest.” He left no room for discussing his own past and how he had ended up where he did. “I will wait a bit longer to check your shoulder.”

 


	2. Competency

I awoke to a dull light as it beamed across my face.

_“Wie spät ist es?”_  I grumbled as I re oriented. Warmth seeped into my bones as I felt my left leg for my replica trench knife.  _Fuck, where is it?!_

_“Es ist 5 Uhr morgens."_  I tensed as a deep tenored voice whispered in my ear.

_Good to know he knows another language. That might come in handy later._ I slowly relaxed as Khan smirked against my skin. “I put your knife on the coffee table. You move around in your sleep.”

I shifted from clenching and unclenching my hand underneath me. Khan grunted and held his light grip on my back so I wouldn’t fall off the couch. “How long have I been asleep?”

He chuckled as I tried to nonchalantly move closer to him. I hadn’t been this warm in a while. “Fourteen hours.” I choked and his hand drifted up to where my arm should have been. I was surprised how easily he managed to do so underneath four layers of blankets. “I made sure the area was secure before I joined you.”

"How long have you been here?"

"Off and on for ten hours." Khan huffed in disappointment. "I haven’t slept in three days." He faded off into a mumble. "Do you always speak in German when you wake up?"

"Not usually," It’s still hard for me to believe there was a time when being up for so long was not normal. His palm gently rested on my stitches and I winced at the contact. “Max moved back and forth from Hamburg, so I thought i’d try to learn…” It left an ache in my chest at the mention of Max and it instantly brought the image of April’s soft face and grey eyes to mind.

I sat up and dumped the blankets on top of him to keep the warmth in. He kept his eyes closed as he fixed them and I regained some of the feeling in my arm. I, mercifully, could not feel the cold from the exposed oak floorboards through my jump boots as I navigated around the coffee table to throw a few more logs on the fire. I grunted at the dwindling supply and grabbed the ax, “I’ve got to cut more wood.”

* * *

“ _Fuck your asshole with a rusty_ -” I grumbled as I stepped out onto the back porch. The bitter autumn wind wiped across my face and hand as I took in the backyard. The steep set of ever rotting stairs to the backyard had a thin sheet of ice over it. _“Great.”_ I let the ax go from my hand and watched as it plummeted to the stone step at the end of the stairs.

It took a solid ten minutes to ease my way down to the last step. _Don’t want to die by falling down the stairs…_ The ax gleamed against the grey stone as I picked it up and scanned for any signs of Walkers or, better yet, deer.

My stomach grumbled at the idea of eating something that wasn’t out of a box. _Maybe a nice glass of milk too, that would be great right about now…_ I smiled as the head of the ax sunk into the log i’d placed on the chopping stump.

Over and over the ax went down and I kicked the fresh cut pieces off to the side. It had been over an hour and most of the wood Max had cut from one of the fallen trees from our property had now been cut into nice small logs for the fire. There was plenty to last for the next month or so.

I wiped my hand across my forehead after I sunk the ax into the chopping stump. I’d sweat through my wool sweatshirt from the effort and took the time to wipe it away from my red face.  
_I hope he went back to sleep.._

Just as I bent down to grasp the metal handle of the ax, a soft growling overwhelmed the air from the neighboring yard. David, a teenager who lived further towards the main road, and his three siblings had taken down a doe and were now staring hungrily at me.

"Shit."I exhaled softly as the ax came free. _Just back up towards the stairs, fuck the wood, fuck th-_

All of the Walkers I had ever come in contact with had limped along, whether they were injured or not, which gave ample time to escape. Staring David down, however, had proved to be one of the worst mistakes to make.

His siblings followed in the slow Walker fashion while David, lanky and tall for his age, charged forward like something out of _28 Days Later_. He was on top of me before I could make it to the wooden portion of the stairs. 

My head cracked against the stone while the handle of the ax came up to David’s  rotten low hanging jaw. His grimy fingers clawed at my sweatshirt until I brought both of my feet up to his chest. My vision spun from the effort. 

_I can’t push him…_

Blood freely flowed from the gash on the back of my head and with whipped David up into a frenzy. It was harder to hold him back.

_“Khan!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2015 update: I just want to say thank you to everyone that has read this story. The original cabin I based mine off of for the story still exists. 
> 
> Here is a link: http://www.vermontproperty.com/detail/Vermont/northeast-kingdom-rentals/415/#.VgDHyctViko although, I believe it is owned by a different person now. 
> 
> The German later on in this story will not be from Google translate, I'm still trying to learn so I will continually edit it if there are mistakes pointed out.


	3. Almost a Hero's Rescue

Seconds after I called out for him, I had given up any hope of coming out of David’s attack alive. Even if Khan had heard my plea, it would take him a few minutes to move the protective wall of wood and pallets set up in front of the sliding glass door that lead out to the porch.

The constant odor that seeped from David’s rotting mouth had me in a disgusted stupor. Blood from the deer and some from David’s open wounds dribbled down his dislocated jaw and dripped onto my face _What if I’m infected?_ I could barely bring myself to halfheartedly care.

The only noise that alerted me to Khan’s now looming presence was a slight creak in the step above me. The Colt I always left on the island was pointed at the top of David’s skull and I managed to close my eyes and mouth before Khan pulled the trigger. I screamed against the tight seal of my lips as David’s body fell on top of me.

_I helped tutor him for Pre Calc just a few months ago…_  
  


I couldn’t move and the sound of my heart pumping was the only thing I could hear.

Khan stood over me once he had shoved David off of my body. I reached into my back pocket and wiped my face with the handkerchief  I had folded inside. When I opened my eyes, Khan had slid the Colt into the front of his pants and held the wood ax in his left hand.

"Go clean up," Khan commanded as he helped me up, "I’ll take care of this."

* * *

I stood in the empty shower stall with a large container of Poland Spring water on the floor of the tub and a large metal pan in my hand. He was just a kid. Still in high school and he just wanted to get out of here… I bit my lip hard to prevent myself from sobbing. _I’m sorry._

I slipped into my clothes slowly since I was still sore from the steps digging into my back. When I opened the door, Khan had restocked the wood and stored the rest in April’s old room.

He met my gaze, “Sit.”

"I know I wasn’t alert," I frowned as I eased down onto the couch, "And I froze." I cleared my throat as Khan sat down and started to unassemble all of my guns to clean them. The Colt was first. "It won’t happen again."

Khan was silent for a long time and it felt far worse than if he had torn me a new one. He focused on the pieces in his hands and reassembled them in record time then moved onto the row of guns he’d set on the table.

My mind kept circling back to his earlier diversion about his past. _What was he doing alone? Where was he from? What happened to his family?_ Over and over again like an awful but catchy pop song. I watched his firm hands reload the Krebs AK- 47 magazine with the box of bullets I left by the refrigerator. _Ex Military? Mercenary maybe?_ His face remained neutral as he gently rested it down next to the five other guns he had cleaned and reloaded. A fleeting thought of how most people would be afraid of such precision crossed my mind.

I had known this man for all of a day but there was a mutual, silent understanding that we needed to stay together in order to stay alive. Well, I hoped it was mutual.

He jolted me from my thoughts as he stood. ” I suppose I owe you some answers.”

I cleared my throat as he kept the Colt on the table and put the others back in the gun cabinet by the main door. “Why were you alone?” I arched my eyebrow as he picked up the broken camp stove. “I dropped that, it doesn’t work.”

Khan set it on the glass coffee table and moved the Colt closer to me. “I don’t remember.” He ran his hand through his thick hair as he glanced around,  “Do you have a Toolbox?”

"Under the sink." I pointed to the kitchen area, "Amnesia?" I guessed as he knelt down to search for the beat up red tool box.

"Yes, I suppose." He made an affirming noise once his hand latched onto the black handle. "I remember most of my life," He focused his attention back on the green portable camp stove, "Only my most recent memories are gone."

I dug under the couch for the Colt leg strap and slipped it inside. “What happened to your family?”

The stove dropped from his hands and shattered the glass top of the coffee table. I held my breath as Khan blankly stared at the sharp fragments of glass. “I’m not sure.” I swallowed at the sight of his blood dripped down his long fingers. “I am going to find them.”

He tensed under my hand as I tried to get him to stand. “Khan,” I swallowed hard as his eyes nearly bored holes through me. “Khan, your blood will attract Walkers…” His gaze shifted to the now unprotected glass door. He stood slowly and walked through the glass shards. I kept my hand on his bicep to guide him to the bathroom sink.

"What else do I need to know about Walkers?" I had only asked him two serious questions and I couldn’t bring myself to ask anymore. I grabbed the big bottle of Poland Spring and motioned for him to remove his clothes.

"I’ll tell you as you take a bath." Khan stood stock still and refused to move. "When was the last time you bathed?"

"I don’t remember." His nose scrunched as he removed his tight black shirt. I turned away from him and filled the tub. It took several big bottles but I had just filled the back of the Escalade to the brim when I had met Khan.

The tub had enough space for him to sit with his knees half bent and I waited for him to get comfortable before I sat on the closed toilet lid beside him. “You can only kill them by decapitating them or shooting them in the head.” I coughed into the crook of my arm and picked up the plastic measuring cup I used to rinse my hair with since the pan was too large to do so. “Do not let them bite you or scratch you.” I filled the cup with water and rinsed Khan’s hair. His bangs fell across his face and he closed his eyes. The color of the water changed from crystal clear to an almost brown mixture from the blood, dirt and grime that had accumulated on his body and in his hair. “Also make sure not to swallow or get any of their blood in any open wounds.”

If he had any objections to my treatment, he didn’t voice them, even as I lathered his hair with generic shampoo and conditioner. “If you do get bit in an amputatable area, you can be saved…” His left arm reached out and grasped my right shoulder as I drained the tub. “Otherwise, I’ll have to leave you because you’ll turn.” I gently removed his hand and grabbed a towel off the rack. I turned my head away and held it out to him. Once I felt his hand grasp it, I let it go and opened the door. “I’ll go find you some clean clothes and wash these…” I grabbed his dirty clothes and dropped them into the laundry basket once I closed the door. I needed time and space to think.

* * *

Khan looked at the clothes Aidenn had set on the bathroom counter in disdain until he realized that they were most likely Max’s. A pair of long black jeans, a black tank top, and a smoke colored over shirt were folded neatly against the white marble top.

He relaxed his shoulders as he slipped the tops on and then the jeans. For a human who had lost so much, Aidenn could have been worse, especially under the world’s current circumstances.

Khan rubbed his eyes with his palms before he opened the bathroom door. _When was the last time he had let someone bath him like that? Years._  he wagered as he took in the afternoon sun through the sliding door. He tensed as he noticed Aidenn outside hanging up clothes on a makeshift laundry line in the backyard. It had to have been only a few hours since she had been attacked. _Why was she outside alone?_

He grabbed the black Krebs AK out of the gun rack and made his way to the door. A cold rage swept through his body as he slammed the door shut behind him and he watched as Aidenn jumped at the sound.

"What are you doing out here?!" Khan hissed as she grasped the handle of a saw edged machete.

"I had to hang these so they could dry." She refused to back down as she glanced up at him. "You can try all you want to control me," She pushed past him and started to follow the drag marks he had made earlier into the neighboring yard. "The time will come when you don’t need me anymore and we will part ways."

Khan exhaled slowly and followed behind her. “Did you check the area?” He clenched his jaw as he scanned the yard.

"Yes." It came softly from her mouth as she stopped in front of the pile of dismembered limbs that were once her neighbors. "You can go back inside," she said over her shoulder as she dropped the machete and picked up a small shovel that had been propped up against a broken garden fence. "I knew them."

Khan stayed silent and watched as Aidenn wrapped her hand in handkerchiefs to pick up the severed limbs. She separated them with the torso and corresponding head before she attempted to dig.

_Control her?_ Khan reflected back on his few memories with this woman. He almost grunted in displeasure as watched her struggle to pull the shovel from the earth.  

He took the shovel from her hand after she had dug two holes and placed two of David’s sisters inside. He removed the over shirt and dug the two remaining holes. When he was finished, he stood back as she filled all four in.

"It’s around two thirty." Aidenn stated as she unwrapped her hand and pulled a lighter out of her pocket. He said nothing as she lit the fabric on fire. "I need to go for another run into town." Khan cleared his throat and rested the AK on his shoulder once he had put the grey shirt back on. "I’ll need to load a few guns in the car along with some ammo then we’ll be good to go."

 


	4. Run

Khan drove to Littleton in silence while Aidenn pondered how he remembered the route from one disoriented trip. She glanced out the window and frowned as a few leaves fell from the trees.  _It'll be harder to stay warm soon._ Her upper teeth worried against her bottom lip as Khan turned the wheel with her suicide knob.  _I can't leave._

"What is your plan?" Khan asked as he swerved to avoid a small Toyota abandoned in the middle of the road.

"Start at the Wal-mart then work from there." She frowned as she looked back at the car. _That wasn't there yesterday..._ "There's a glass case full of ammo and guns," She jerked her thumb to the right once Khan pulled up to a small four way intersection, "And there's some in the back in stock if the case has been looted already."

"You worked there." Aidenn frowned as Khan slowed and unrolled his window. His neutral facade remained as he shot two Walkers in the head with a silenced pistol before he rolled the window up again. "I saw the bullet press and materials in Max's room." He chose this opportunity to focus on driving rather than Aidenn's face, "I know how to use it."

"Alright." She followed a small group of Walkers with her hazed over eyes. "Let's focus on this run," Khan had stopped  and cut the engine to let the group pass, "They're starting to wander away from the hospital..." She coughed softly into her jacket sleeve, "They must've run out of food."

Khan turned the key in the ignition with a little more force than necessary. He cracked his knuckles against the steering wheel as he navigated through small sea of cars. "Where these here before?"

Aidenn nodded and huffed against the glass. "Yeah," Khan reached back and grabbed the Krebs off the back seat as he parked close to the door. _We're parked on the sidewalk. Ha, like anyone would give a fuck now._  "They came in one huge wave about two weeks after this whole thing started." She fastened her knife strap to her leg and held a tomahawk in her only hand. "The number of people living dwindled down to a few dozen but, I think that there are only fifteen of us left now. If that."

Khan grunted as he took the keys from the ignition and slung an Army dufflebag over his shoulder. "How often do you see them?"

Aidenn walked gingerly through the broken glass doors and turned back to face him, "Every now and then. Mostly when they're looking for food and gas." She rested the tomahawk against her leg and began tossing Khan packs of batteries with an underhand throw.

"But I’ve been avoiding them. They're starting to get combative for resources." Khan opened the bag and maneuvered it so the batteries would land inside. She shook her head at his frown. "They have three kids in one group. A toddler and a baby along with a six year old." Aidenn sighed as she picked up the tomahawk and started to check the expiration dates for miscellaneous candies at each register before she tossed the good ones into the bag.

Khan grunted in disdain and scanned for any signs of movement. "Most of the fruit and anything else relatively healthy is rotten." Aidenn huffed as she pushed the bag across the floor to the next register. "Beggars can't be choosers at this point."

Aidenn scanned the last row and smiled as she shoved a box of crayons into the bag. Khan shook his head and grabbed several packs of lighters off the rack. "If we're desperate, crayons burn but they reek."

She grasped the handle of her ax and chuckled at Khan's perplexed expression. "Good," She continued to chuckle as she kicked the bag back to him.

"I was starting to think you only knew one facial expression."

Khan grabbed several boxes of matches and packs of cheap plastic lighters and frowned as he placed them in the bag. He remained silent as Aidenn moved on through the women's clothing department and headed straight for the weapon and hunting section in the back left corner of the store. Khan continued to check and scan for Walkers and would grab the occasional sweatshirt or long sleeved shirt that would fit him off racks and shelves of the men’s section.

He froze when he heard the faint sound of crunching broken glass and tugged at Aidenn's spare sleeve. He motioned to the aisle beside the glass case where a Walker growled lowly and began to limp towards them.

_"Stay."_  

Aidenn glared up at him, still not used to taking orders, but remained hidden behind a shelf of toys. Her eyes followed his movement until he sunk her tomahawk into the Walker's head. She waited until it dropped and stepped around the shards of broken glass. Half the container was empty and all the ammo Khan would need for his gun was gone.  _Great._ She still rooted through the ammo and carefully placed it in the bag.

"Khan." She cleared her throat as she dropped several sheathed blades into the bag, "I can't carry it anymore."

He handed her the tomahawk back then knelt down to zip up the bag.  Aidenn smiled as she led him back further and through the storage doors. "Just don't take too long in there."  She turned her back to him and started to watch. "There was an extra abandoned car on the road." Khan glowered at her as he slipped through the loosely hinged doors. 

* * *

 

With the duffle bag and another backpack full of ammo and other valuable supplies, Khan turned on his heels and left the storage area with the expectation that Aidenn would be standing in the same spot.  He growled lowly once he realized that she was nowhere in his line of sight. He almost wondered how she had made it this long without him. 

He retraced their steps to the front door, carefully avoiding the sections of strewn glass and a few knocked over discount food displays. He stopped and looked around the last one and clenched his hand around the strap of the backpack. A small amount of blood had smeared with half of a boot print that wasn't Aidenn's or his own.   _Not enough for a gunshot._  So, he reasoned, they had most likely stabbed her.   _She's still alive._  He traced his fingers across the cardboard and found more blood.  He readied the Krebs in his hands as he made his way to the shattered front door.  

"Stop!" Khan held the gun tighter in his hands as his eyes traveled from face to face, "Give us the bags and we'll let you leave.

The oldest of the six was, he approximated, thirty and the youngest was ten.  Each held either a gun or an improvised weapon. His eyes briefly flickered to Aidenn's  and then back to the man who spoke. "I won't leave without her."  

The man shifted his overweight form back and forth on meaty legs. "Put the gun down and give us the bags." He turned to the skinny teenager holding onto Aidenn, "Then we'll let her go." 

Khan's jaw ticked as he met Aidenn's gaze again. It was clear the man was lying about her release.  Slowly, he placed the duffle bag down first as Aidenn shook her head, an incognito signal to take the supplies and run.  The backpack he found in storage soon followed but not before Khan gave her a firm smile. 

He wouldn't need a gun for this.


	5. Run part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to rewrite this chapter so there are some differences.

Ruthless.

It was the only word that she felt could describe Khan in those brief seconds. She almost thanked the gun to her back and the added knife to her throat. Had she not felt the pressure of the blade to her throat she knew deep down that she would've thrown up. It barely nicked her throat as her captor began to shake

His hetrochromic eyes never met hers but bored into the man behind her. He had shown no mercy to the preteen, decapitating him while he drew his final breath, and had no intentions of starting with this man.

Aidenn could barely hear the gun clink softly behind her as he replaced the hammer. Warm tears dripped down the back of her neck as Khan dropped the last body to the ground.  _They need to have their brains destroyed…_  But the words never made it past her lips.

A rough, broken growl halfway across the parking lot roused their attention and Aidenn wondered how Walkers had found them from their hoard on the freeway. No one had had a chance to fire off a round at Khan, the only other answer was their scent...

It was soft at first, so soft that only Khan heard it. He turned his head to the side and watched as the Walkers surrounded a homemade armored van made from an old Dodge SUV that belonged to the other survivors. It was in that moment following Khan's movement that she understood.

_“They’ve started to get combative for resources….They have three kids in one group. A baby, a toddler, and a six year old.”_

"The baby," She uttered as Khan turned his attention back to them and eyed the man. Her captor took a step back from her, _No. No. No. Why would you..?_ "You brought the baby..."

Aidenn turned on her heel faster than either of the remaining men would've liked. She met the sweaty man's gaze and glanced down at the knife. "Give it to me."

The man's hand shook and he nearly dropped the knife as he was handing it over. She ignored the crunch of glass against her soles and broke out into a run.  _Please... Please... not the...its done nothing wrong…_

Khan caught up just as she dodged around a skewed Ford pickup. He said nothing as he shouldered the Krebs and waited for her next move.

* * *

As much as she hated the current state of the world, she couldn't shake some of the emotions she'd shoved deep down inside.  _It's a baby... It can't fight back..._

Aidenn ignored the gash across her arm and slammed the side door open as Khan covered her with a small burst of gunfire. What had started out as a group of ten had grown quickly by dozens of Walkers as the baby cried in its car carrier.  Aidenn cut the seat belt and dragged the carrier out.

"We need to leave." Khan reshouldered the Krebs and switched to Aidenn's tomahawk and a knife. They needed to save as much ammo as possible. Aidenn grabbed the handle and pulled the flimsy cover up over the baby to protect it from Walker blood.

Aidenn fell in line behind him as he made his was back towards their car. She felt numb. If Khan had killed this man instead, both she and the baby could've died. The lone survivor's grim look brightened a little as he stood by a hotwired car.

Aidenn rounded the car while Khan handed the baby over. "Here."

Khan brushed past her and made his way to their discarded bags while Aidenn handed the man some supplies. "Go."

* * *

"I couldn't leave it." I whispered as Khan's hands clenched the steering wheel.  _I almost can’t believe you could…_ He had gone to the other three locations, TJ Maxx, the gas station, and the liquor store by himself. Most of the Walkers had been drawn away long enough for him to avoid the risk of a herd attack.

Khan took the turn onto Miles Pond road faster than I would've liked. Gravel kicked out and rumbled in the wheel wells as he continued to focus on the road and not me. The only confirmation I had that he was paying any attention was his furrowed brow and a brief exhale.

His silent treatment lasted longer than I would've liked. Once we had made it home, he left to pick off some of the few straggling Walkers he'd drove past and left me with a knife instead of my sturdy tomahawk. By the time he returned, I had placed everything I could bring into the cabin in their rightful place. It left me with plenty of time to think.  _Extremist..? No, not a survivalist either. KGB, maybe?_  

"Water and liquor are still in the back." I grunted as he placed the tomahawk on the counter. It was covered in blood so I quickly dropped it into the boiled water collected in the sink. The last thing we needed was to get infected from bloody weapons.

Once he brought the bags and packs in, I handed him a box of energy bars to which he gave a slight look of disdain. "Oh fucking eat something," I groaned as I checked the cut on my arm, "I know you haven't yet."

Blood seeped through the makeshift bandage on my left arm as Khan tore the box open. "Clean your hands first." He still had the Walker blood and possibly human blood on his hands. "I'll make something as well."

Shifting through the cupboards, I grasped a can of chicken noodle soup and placed it on the counter before going back for another.   _He's a grown man after all._  I chuckled as my hand touched the next can. The slight pressure of his right palm against my lower back made me inhale sharply and my forehead slammed forward into the bottom of the cabinet. “ _Shit!_ ” 

I pulled my head away from the wood and wiped the blood away with my palm. Khan moved away and I winced as blood began to soak the rag bandage around my cut anew. "Why are you still here?!" I couldn't help it anymore. "I'm of no use to you now that you're  _obviously_  out of your shock! If you ever truly were in it to begin with."

Khan grabbed the two cans and a pan without saying anything. He set up a small fire and began to cook on the open flame. "Go fuck yourself." I growled as I tossed a plastic cup onto the counter and poured enough Jack Daniels in it for two shots. "If you're going to kill me, do it soon and take my shit so you can go do whatever the fuck it is you need to do."

We had sat in a long enough silence for the soup to cook and he poured me another shot. I hadn’t had more than four in one sitting for almost a year. I handed him a spoon and sat down beside him. There was no point in grabbing separate bowls since it would be a waste of water. I winced as it burnt my tongue. “Should’ve guessed.” We had nothing to cool my burnt tongue so downed another shot. Khan said nothing and dipped his spoon into the pan.

“So,” I could already feel the alcohol working, “Until you do kill me,” I chuckled as I dunked my spoon into the pan beside his, “Have you recovered any memories?”

“One or two.” I swallowed around my spoon and watched him do the same.

“Anything about your family?” His shoulders squared and he grasped the handle to bring the warm soup up to his mouth. He held it out for me and I finished it. “Okay, what about a plan?” I bent over and picked the pan up before moving away to clean it. My arm had stopped bleeding so it was safe enough to stick it in the water to wash the dishes. I pulled the plug and watched the murky water disappear before I left the pan in the dry side of the sink.

“You plan to stay here.” It wasn’t a question. I sighed into my shoulder as I pulled away from the sink. “You can’t.” Khan grabbed two bottled waters out from underneath the sink and ducked under for some more, “The only reason the Walkers are coming up from the southern towns and cities is to search of food.”

“I can’t leave my sister.” I kept my eyes on the now four water bottles on the counter as Khan kept his hand on one. He grabbed the remaining ones and brought them back to our spot in front of the fire.

I still had a lingering irrational belief that April and Max would come back. I needed them…  I dragged my nails across my pants at the thought of their cold burial. “The only information I have is old.” Khan glanced up as I sat down next to him and drank from the water bottle.  _No point in suffering from a hangover tomorrow…_ “When I still had the TV going, they said Burlington and Atlanta were going to be safe.”

I tried not to stare as Khan ran his fingers through his bangs, “No,” I cleared my throat and stared at the fire in an attempt not to challenge his objection, “The main cities will be swarming with Walkers. The only thing there is…”

“The CDC?” He nodded as I gently eased myself to the floor. “Do you think your family will be there?”

I knew it was a risk asking Khan about his family again and he took my position of staring at the fire. “They might be.” He said tersely after a few moments.

The sliding glass door was still bare and I started to wonder if I was letting my guard down far too early. Even though, I had no chance in hell of getting away from Khan on my very best day.

“Can you get that…?” I cleared my throat and motioned to the boxes and wood pallets I had used to brace the door before he had arrived. Khan nodded and I took a mouthful from the bottle while I watched him reassemble the barricade.

“We should be all set now.” I said as I shook the bottle, “Come have a shot or two.”

“Are you already drunk?” He chuckled as he took the bottle. I blushed at the contact of his rather large hand.

“I suppose.” I chuckled and eyed my water bottle. “Another one and I might be…” I bit my lip as he swallowed down a few shots worth. “I used to have a high tolerance.”

I decided his brief chuckle was a good thing, “Even then, it was nowhere near as high as mine.”

“Yeah right.” I scoffed, “I bet you can’t drink that bottle and the six pack of Mike’s and not get hammered.”

 


	6. Rot in Hell

_“Be Still.”_  Khan’s warm breath tickled my right ear as I slowly squirmed awake against him. It took me a moment to realize he had his right hand covered my mouth while his left firmly gripped my arm. I tried to bite his hand but Khan quickly pinched my nose until I stopped trying to fight him off.  _Why is he dragging this out?_  My head spun longer than would've liked.

_“Someone’s in the house.”_  Khan let go of my nose and eased the grip on my arm enough for me to palm the knife on my bare thigh. I rolled my shoulders and met the bare skin of his chest.

_Wait…_

Khan slowly took my hand away from the knife and I tensed against his mostly naked flesh. He still had a pair of Max’s boxers on which made me sigh in relief against his palm. Once my mind had cleared, I could hear the shuffling in the living room and feel the fresh bandages on my side and head.

_"Stay Silent."_   I nodded as Khan released me from his grasp and sat up. I pressed to the bed once Khan slipped from the bed and he met my gaze. His hand rested on my knee and I nodded once before I closed my eyes. His large hand quickly removed the knife from the holster and I rolled off the bed onto the floor as he opened the door.

* * *

Khan had taken down three Walkers before I had managed to find another knife. The barricade that had blocked the back door had been shoved across the living room and what was left of the sliding glass door was scattered amongst the debris. None of the guns that had been left out on the counter were there and the gun rack had a few scratches near the lock.

“Fuck.” I growled as I ducked to avoid a Walker’s arm. If I had been wearing a shirt it would’ve grabbed at my empty sleeve and pulled me down. I dodged underneath Khan’s arm as he dug the trench knife into its head and I grabbed a clever out of the knife drawer to the left of the sink. Bile churned in my stomach. “How many?”

“Twelve.” Khan grunted as he pulled the knife out and I chopped off one of the Walker’s hands reaching towards him. I grunted in displeasure.  _I was aiming for its head.Why did I miss?_

He fought his way over to the gun cabinet and I managed to kill two and had just diced into my third when he started to kick out the side of the wooden rack. The AK dropped out and I ducked down to give him enough room to shoot.

I covered my head as Khan got several shots off and only looked up when he stopped shooting. He cleared his throat and pushed the two bodies off of my back and legs. “The barricade was up before we went to bed.” I accepted his outstretched hand and moved slowly by him to collect the rest of the guns. “Someone broke the door.”

“I have one neighbor that would do something like this.” I frowned as I noticed some of the food and water we’d collected had been taken. “He lives further up the road in the woods.”

I tried to keep my eyes off of Khan as he started to drag the Walkers out and pile them on the porch. When he returned, he held me still. I hadn't noticed that I was shaking. "Follow my finger." I stared at the tip of his index finger and I grew worried as he frowned.

"I found where you had been stabbed last night." He gently rested a hand on the bandage wrapped around my stomach and turned my head to the side with the other. "You've got a concussion and have lost too much blood."

I managed to stay upright as Khan walked behind me to the spare bedroom. I looked down at the floor once I sat on the bed and noticed the clothes I had given Khan tossed on the floor beside mine.

"You fell asleep." Khan came back into view with clean hands and some fresh bandages. I nodded and watched him replace the stomach bandage in pained silence. When he finished, the head bandage was next. "How far up the road is it?"

"Not far." I paused as Khan met my gaze. "He's a survivalist." I bit my lip as Khan bent me down to see my head wound, "His house will be booby trapped and he'll be armed." I sighed in relief as he poured water across the area I had cracked against the stone step. "I can be read to go in-"

"No." It was firm and left no room for negotiation. I glared at him when he allowed me to sit normally. "You will stay here."

"But-" Khan shook his head and stood. "You're not invincible."

Khan chuckled and turned away, "You are too injured. Rest in the bathroom. I'll give you the rest of the guns and some supplies."

I stood and wobbly made my way to him, "Be careful." 

* * *

Khan scouted the main entryway to the one level cabin from a distance. He had already seen the trip wire and bear traps outside the doorway and front windows. The only other entry point was a set of bulkhead on the right side. Also booby trapped.

He continued to scan the area and found some of Aidenn's supplies still out beside the man's 1990’s Ford pickup. The passenger side door was open and the overhead light was on. Khan tuned out the constant pinging as he scanned the area before looking inside the cab.

An empty Smith and Wesson M&P had been discarded on the floor and blood had  splattered across the worn seats. Khan dipped one of his fingers in a small pool and found that most of the blood hadn't dried. He slipped the gun into his pants at the small of his back and pulled himself from the cab. He would not be exacting revenge on this man. The Walkers had done that for him.

With the Krebs AK loaded and ready, Khan maneuvered around the traps and kept himself on high alert once he made it inside. A compound bow and two full quivers had been set out on the kitchen table while a small stockpile of bullets had been piled up on one of the chairs.

From a brief glance, Khan found ammo for the M&P along with some for a Remington 870, AR 15, and a Colt 1911. None of which were in the kitchen.

A small hallway straight ahead of him had a dim light bulb that hung precariously from the ceiling. He stepped over one tripwire that led to the bathroom on his right. It was just a shower stall and an unusually small toilet.

Khan grabbed the remaining two sheathed machetes off the wall and slung them over his back. There was one more slot with only a sheath hanging by its strap. He pressed on.

* * *

Aidenn groaned as she slowly sat back in the bathtub. She had taken some of her leftover Vicodin to ease her pain but it had yet to take effect. She had downed an entire box of energy bars and two bottles of water.

Khan had left her tomahawk and her other trench knife with her for protection then pushed the couch in front of the bathroom door.  _A few hours._   

She frowned and wiped away a few tears.  _That's what April always said. And Max..._

She thumbed the picture of Max and her sister in Hamburg she had snagged off of the fridge.  _I'm sorry Sis but I can't stay._  Her eyelids drooped and she slipped the photo back into the pocket of her pants she'd put on before Khan had left.  The ache in her side had dulled down and her head had stopped pounding.  _I'll make it for as long as I can. Promise._

* * *

A dark Army duffle bag on the bed had greeted Khan when he entered the last room. Inside, all of the guns belonging to the ammo in the kitchen along with two Magnum .375 revolvers with some more ammo had been zipped inside.

Khan moved the machetes so they hung against his left side and grabbed the bag. He backtracked to the kitchen and shoved the ammo inside along with the quivers. Somehow he managed to grab the bow and leave without setting off any of the traps.

There was no sign of the neighbor so Khan picked up his pace back to Aidenn's cabin. Once inside, he took the guns out and set them on the couch with the ammo then grabbed the bag. Instead of the Krebs, he grabbed the bow and shouldered a quiver. He needed to make sure the area was clear before he let Aidenn out.

\---

The wind had picked up and it carried the semi fresh scent of blood. Khan followed it with an arrow notched around the Ford to the far end of the house.

A man in his late forties with salt and pepper hair stared up at him. He let out a soft cry as he saw Khan it, however, quickly turned into a harsh scream as three Walkers bit into various parts of his body.

Khan walked back to the bed of the truck and climbed in. He noticed a crossbow and an M16, both fully loaded, in front of the truck's steel tool box. He opened the box and grabbed all of the food and water inside and zipped it into the bag. He left it beside the weapons and climbed onto the top of the cab.

The Ford was parked close enough to the house that Khan could jump up and grab above the gutter a few yards or so ahead of him. Once had climbed onto the roof, he checked for traps and disabled some of the ones he had avoided on the way up.

A sob echoed from the man and Khan silently moved across the roof carefully so he wouldn't fall off. He got to the edge and watched as a Walker bit all the way through the man’s wrist severing his hand from his body.

He was thankful for the bow but let out frustrated sigh at the lack of a release. If it had been a recurve bow, it would've been easier to shoot. He notched an arrow back and pulled with his shoulders before releasing it. It went into one of the Walker's heads beside the man's shoulder. The second arrow killed and pinned another to the first and, in his final shot, took out the one still chewing on the now severed hand.

Khan jumped down and pulled the arrows free. He dragged them across his jeans before putting them back in the quiver. Khan took one last look at the man and watched the life drain from his eyes. He turned and headed back to pick up the bag without destroying the man' brain. Khan left him there, just like he had met to leave them to die.

 


	7. On the Move

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter this week. I hit a hiccup in my writing where I had up to here planned out and have about four more after chapter 8 planned. Special thanks to bedb for leaving comments.

Khan moved the newly acquired weapons and bag to the center of the wrecked living room before he pulled the couch away from the door. He covered the empty living room door frame with white sheets from the bedroom to offer some semblance of protection.

"I thought you were going to leave me here." Aidenn did not look up as Khan turned to face her. "I’m sorry I doubted you."

Khan gave a halfhearted nod which caught her by surprise. He had never done anything half assed as far as she could remember. “I’ll start gathering up our supplies.”

She returned to the bathroom and grabbed the supplies he’d left with her. It took a few trips and by the time she was done, Khan had moved all of the boxed food and the crate of alcohol to the center of the room. Most of it would be okay to eat for months and the alcohol could be used, if necessary, as a disinfectant.

They carefully stacked and maneuvered around blood stains in order to keep the food from contamination. Khan zipped most of the weapons and ammo into the bag and brought it out to the car. He made four trips to load up the car while she continued to move supplies. On his fifth time out the door, she went back to the bedroom as fast as she could manage and grabbed a few spare sets of clothes along with some things she would need and placed them into her old college backpack. When she got back in the living room, Khan was waiting for her by the couch. He turned his focus from the sheets as they followed the gentle breeze and motioned for her to sit down on the non-stained side of the couch.

"Let me see." Khan motioned to her side bandage as she eased the bag onto the floor. "Do you know your blood type?" She nodded as his precise hands unwound the bandage until he hit the wound. It was clean enough for her to realize it was sewn shut. "You passed out on the bed sometime after your twelfth shot." His chuckle was low as he rewound the bandage and checked the other two. Her arm had healed to the point where she could leave the bandage off for an extended period. Once he could see her head wound, however, Khan rinsed it out with a small amount of water from his water bottle before wrapping it. "The adrenaline running through you made you miss this."

"You’ll want to head out if I can walk on my own." Aidenn frowned as she rubbed her hand against her pants pocket. "I understand I just…" She glanced around the room and stopped on the shattered glass. "I never thought I’d be leaving this place." A small stack of cereal had been left on the floor and she stood to go retrieve them. "Even before whatever you want to call this. An outbreak. Plague…" Shards crunched underneath her boots as she grabbed the boxes and put them next to the bag. "I’ll just need a few moments to collect myself."

* * *

 

Khan stood in the sheet door frame and kept an eye out for Walkers. Every now and then his eyes would land on Aidenn’s tired frame as she whispered to the two crosses underneath a recently planted maple tree. He’d finished taking the remnant belongings to the car and taken the photos off of the fridge. She’d need them to keep her level headed for the trip.

Aidenn stood and dragged her feet back to the one stone step where Khan met her. She was no longer seeing double but had a hard time with depth perception. With one last tour of the house, she glanced up at him and nodded.

They trekked up the pathway at Aidenn’s pace rather than his. Once they were in the car, she turned away from him and plugged her seat belt in.

"I’m ready." It was soft and mostly to the passenger side window but Khan nodded and turned the key. He’d managed to attach her deceased neighbor’s small trailer to the back of the car to hold more supplies and a small motorcycle with extra fuel.

"It’s about three hundred miles to Danbury." Khan frowned as he tried to calculate the best route. "We can take I-91 for most of it." He stared at the empty GPS dash clip. "It will take a few days to get there." Aidenn kept the cabin in her sights until it was just a half of a house across the pond. Then until it was completely gone from the rear view. "From Danbury there is about nine hundred and thirty miles to Atlanta." He paused as he turned off Miles Pond road. "The highway may be crawling with Walkers and it will be full of abandoned cars." He glanced sideways at Aidenn and watched as she thumbed one of her photos. "It will take more than a week to get there."

"I understand." She was quiet for a long while after that. Khan mulled his plan around in his head. He needed to find his family and his best bet would be the CDC. If they were not, he had to come up with another course of action. Fast.


	8. Stalemate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to say thank you to Erin for her amazing comment and to all of the people who left Kudos on the last chapter. I know it has been over a year since I added a chapter and I want to say thank you for keeping this fic alive and fresh in my mind. Please leave a comment if you want to see anything particular in the coming chapters. i'm going to try to fight this writer's block i'm having and push forward to finish this. Then on to the sequel.

The rest of Vermont had only taken them five hours. The pace, however, only held about fifteen minutes into Massachusetts. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, and SUV’s had been abandoned and covered the entire span of the highway. Khan had left no room for discussion in the matter of her getting out to help him push. The first time, he had already strapped the seat belt across her chest and closed the door before she started to speak. She had wanted to tell him that she had just gotten her license back before the outbreak. By the third time, she just nodded and watched as he shoved cars out of the way.

Khan’s movements were precise and Aidenn wondered in the back of her mind how he did it. It took Max and two of his friends to push a Ford off to the side of the road.  Khan would only open the driver’s side door or reach in through the window to grab the steering wheel and push. Her only job was to make it through the area he cleared without crashing or seriously damaging the car.

Each night they sat in the front two seats with a blanket or a spare shirt to keep covered and get some sleep. She could tell that Khan would often feign being asleep until she could no longer stay awake and would slip out to take watch. Nothing more than what was necessary was uttered between them.

If the road was blocked far enough down, Aidenn would sit on top of the trailer with the Colt resting against her leg while Khan had found a recurve bow and kept that on him just in case he ran out of ammo. She’d often stare at his back while he worked and wondered how much he had told her about himself was the truth.

After they had passed through Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York,  they had grown into their barely talk, eat one full meal, and survive routine fairly well. On rare nights that Khan would stay, his hands clenched and his teeth ground harshly against each other to the point where she would fake being asleep so he could collect himself when he awoke.

* * *

“Khan, Wake up.” Aidenn whispered as she taped a torn T shirt to her window. A Walker hissed two cars ahead of them “Khan please.” 

She felt awful about waking him up so soon but if this group saw them, they were  in deep shit. At the moment, Khan was in no position to fight which left them sitting ducks on some fucking part of the New Jersey Highway. Khan had diced his arm and hand open on a broken window of a semi earlier in the day. He had pressed forward without telling her and now the Walkers could smell it even though it had dried in the cab and on the door. Aidenn watched as a few clamored into the open door and dragged the dead driver out to the ground.

She gagged and turned he gaze back to Khan. He was still asleep with his head pressed to the window.   She rested her palm on his exposed shoulder, “Khan Wak-”

Panic quickly rose in her as Khan’s iron grip clenched around her throat and didn’t let go. She clawed at his hand and stared at his face until he opened his eyes. He released her and took in his surroundings in an attempt to regain his bearings.

“W…Walker..Walkers.” Aidenn motioned to the rapidly growing number of them approaching their Escalade. 

Khan fumbled around for the tape and took the blanket he had been using to cover the windshield before taking the remnants of two pairs of jeans on the floor by her feet and taped them to his window.

Aidenn watched as Khan breathed slowly in an effort to keep calm.  His chest heaved every now and then until he regained control of himself. He slid his bangs back and looked at his jeaned window.

She wouldn’t let him off easy, not after he had asphyxiated her.

“What the… fuck.. was tha.. t.. about?” She coughed and prayed briefly that the Walkers didn’t hear it. “Answer me.. Damn it.”

Khan reached behind his seat and handed her a bottle of water.  She hesitantly took it and waited for his response.

“I would have to start from the beginning.” Khan muttered as he reached back for some of the food and a bottle of water for himself. “And I know you won’t believe me.” 

* * *

 

I laid back against my seat as Khan waited for me to say something. Anything. 

“You’re saying you’re a super human from an alternate universe.” I muttered as I stared at the tartan colored blanket on the windshield. I tried to get a grip on what he was saying. “You were tortured while you were there and then somehow ended up here?”  

Khan nodded as he pulled his bandage off his hand and arm. “I was created to be better at everything,” I stared at the completely healed flesh that had been ripped and gouged less than ten hours ago. “Once they found me, they used my family against me to get everything they wanted.” He chuckled darkly, “And they found my healing ability, used it to…”  His eyes fell to the half-eaten energy bar in his hand. 

“Do you know how fucking crazy this sounds?” I panted as I looked at his heterochromic eyes. I could have sworn I saw the beginning of tears collecting there. “It literally sounds just as crazy as me opening this door and letting the fucking Walkers  in to kill us.”   

My hand had barely grazed the door handle before Khan wrapped one of his arms around my waist and pulled me away from the door.  His left hand gently rested on my right cheek and turned my head to face him. 

He lightly traced his thumb across my closed lips and I realized then that we had only been this close when we were asleep back home in the cabin.  Khan’s forehead slid against mine as he pulled back a little.

“I…” His voice hollow as he watched his thumb. “I understand that you do not believe me. It is a lot to process at once.”  He pushed his thumb against my lip until I opened them enough to slip his thumb inside. I brushed my tongue along the pad of it as Khan tried to gather the racing thoughts that flitted across his face. “Do you trust me?”

I sat still as he removed his thumb from my mouth and wrapped his fingers in my hair instead. “Wh. What?”

“Do you trust me, Aidenn?” I leaned in closer as his hand started to push against my skull.  Did I trust him? He had just made the most outlandish claim I’d ever heard in my entire fucking life in the middle of a highway full of people that were supposed to be dead walking around.  That I was about to fucking open the door for and let them kill me. Us…  

“I have no idea what to…” I hadn’t noticed I’d closed my eyes until I felt my hand grasp his shoulder.  His thin shirt easily slid through my blistered fingers.

“I see how you look at me.”  I shivered as his breath ghosted around my ear and over my cheek. “Aidenn,” Khan paused just as I was about to lean into him. “Do you trust me?”

 


	9. Into the Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any STID or TWD characters, I only own my OC. (I keep forgetting to put this in each chapter of my fics)
> 
> Thank you to alltheteainchina for your stunning review. Besides what I wrote while I was actually up in Vermont, you really got me into finishing this chapter. 
> 
> I'll also admit i've never seen TOS. ya'll can get after me about it, i've been meaning to watch them but i'm currently behind in 6 other shows.

She had watched this man’s back from the beginning and he had done the same for her. As far as she could tell, he had never lied to her when they had said more than five sentences to each other. And here he was, so close to her after what had happened before the world had gone to shit …

“Yes Khan,”  Aidenn kept her eyes closed as she forced the memory away, “I trust you.”

Aidenn felt one of his hands flip the arm rest of her seat up before she heard it. His soon followed and Khan pulled her from her seat into his lap.  His lips quickly met her chapped ones in a rough kiss.

She bit his lip to hold back her moan as her hand slid from the column of his neck to the hem of his shirt.  She hated to admit it, even to herself, but she wanted more than just a few heated kiss from him.  She could rarely recall feeling this way about another person other than her first girlfriend in high school.

_He’s not him… He won’t…_

She slid her hand back up his chest underneath the warm fabric while Khan’s free hand found the small of her back and slid underneath the band of her jeans. She groaned against his lips as his hand traveled to her hip.

Khan chuckled softly as Aidenn pulled back from the kiss to even out her breathing.  His bangs fell over his eyes as he watched her move to comfortably straddle him.

Before she could lean in for another, Khan pulled her back down to his chest and grabbed the knife in his door.  Walkers groaned as they walked by the uncovered back windows of the Escalade and continued to shuffle further down the highway.

Aidenn kept her eyes on Khan’s hand as he firmly gripped the handle of the knife. The serrated edge rested against the jean covered window as she buried her face closer to his chest. She could feel it rise and fall calmly as a herd fifty to one hundred deep continued to pass by.

She evened out her breathing to the pace of Khan’s steady heartbeat while her hand clenched the material of his shirt.  _You’re safe with him. Please, please don’t do this now._

“..enn. Aidenn.” She tensed as Khan slid his fingers through hers to free his shirt. “They’re gone for now.” He paused as his thumb dragged across her wrist and frowned at its still accelerating thrum. “ You are safe.”

Tears slowly trailed down her cheeks as she cleared her throat. “We should.. We should cover the remaining windows for now.” She exhaled as Khan let her wrist go. “We can’t move the cars in the dark. We’ll be even worse off.”

He helped her crawl into the back with only a nod. She accepted the roll of tape he handed to her and concentrated on putting blankets up to cover the back windshield. Had she focused on him, she would’ve seen him putting together the one thing she did not want him to know.

* * *

 

Rick Grimes stared at the shell shocked faces of his group, unsure of what to do next. He tried to keep them calm with, which he was very grateful for, Dale’s help.

“We need to keep moving.”  He shifted from his wife’s stead gaze to the two newest members. They stared back at him with a neutral expression that filled him with unease.  

What troubled him the most about the newcomers stemmed from what he had seen in the CDC.  Jenner had mentioned the experiments he had conducted under orders of higher command on the remaining relatives of the man and woman standing away from his group.  TS-19.. his own wife, was the last experiment he had conducted before they had arrived.  Before the CDC blew sky high. 

Rick turned away as he processed what Jenner had told him. They were all infected. Everyone.

_Lorie… Carl…_

He exhaled slowly and dragged his palms down his face as the newcomers whispered amongst themselves.

“We will assist you in any way we can.” The man spoke up as he gently let go of his companion’s hand. Rick could tell it displeased this man to be in anyone’s debt.

He nodded anyway. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I haven't seen any of TOS I'm not sure ho i'm going to work the angle of Khan's crew at the moment. It was also something that contributed to the over a year long hiatus of this fic originally.


	10. Put to the Test

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I haven’t seen TOS. So the two names I have were based off of the Behind the Name generator using the Russian and German options. Besides that, I guess I’m following in the alternate time line steps of STID to create them. Tell me what you think in the comments. I also kind of feel bad that most of Khan’s crew didn’t make it. Muse is a cruel mistress.

Khan stared down the Walkers ahead of them. The herd that had traveled by before had only been the tip of what was to come.  He turned to face Aidenn as she tried to remain calm beside him.

“What do we do?” She whispered as she shot at a Walker coming closer to them. Aidenn hissed at the fact it her took five rounds to do so. He had silenced their weapons while they had waited for the previous group to pass. “There are so many of them…”

“We will stick to our original plan.” He replied lowly as he shot off several rounds that resulted in perfect head shots.  Khan held back a smirk as Aidenn grumbled beside him.  “We will continue to head to the CDC.”

* * *

 

While Rick managed to convince the rest of the group to keep moving, Daryl fell back to assess their newest members.  He and Rick had been the only ones to see what Jenner had done to their family. It made the scars on his back sting with heat.

He shook the memories of how he got those scars out of his mind as he stopped beside the blond haired man. His gray eyes quickly assessed the hunter as he slung his crossbow back over his shoulder.

“You never told us your names.” Daryl shifted his weight from his left to his right foot.

The woman beside the blond attempted to smile. “My name is Valentina Verena and this is my husband, Hartmut.”   The man beside her grunted. “But we all call…. We all called him Eckehard.” She frowned and brushed some of her long black hair out of her face. “It’s his middle name.”

Daryl nodded and motioned towards the RV. “We’re runnin low on vehicles. You’ll both bunk with Dale for now.”

Eckehard looked down at his wife. They had ruled Khan’s German and Russian territories respectively and now… now they had lost everything. Their homes, siblings, and he tried not to presume their leader as well.   He had noticed Khan’s cryotube had been missing from the holding room in the CDC. Along with eleven others, mostly from India and Japan.   

Valentina’s blue eyes held the same confusion, guilt and anger Eckehard’s did.  None of their questions could be answered by the humans before them.  And his arm still ached from Jenner’s strength test.  

Daryl turned and started back towards the group and his motorcycle, satisfied for now, that the newcomers wouldn’t kill the group in their sleep.

“Was sollen wir machen?”  Eckehard smiled at his wife’s use of his native tongue. He almost towered over her at six foot four and cracked his neck before he looked down at her again. Something she always mentioned as a “disadvantage” of her thin, five foot five frame.  

“Bleiben Sie mit ihnen. Für jetzt. Wir benötigen mehr Informationen.” Valentina’s small, calloused hand slipped into his as he began to head for the group and the RV. “ Wir brauchen, um Khan zu finden.” Her hand squeezed his in warning. “Er war nicht bei den anderen.” Eckehard stopped at the RV’s side door and gently took the handle in his large hand. “Er konnte immer noch da draußen sein. Er konnte immer noch auf der Suche nach uns.”

“Как ты знаешь?”  Valentina whispered as he pulled the door open for her.

“His Cryotube was missing.” Eckehard closed the door behind him just as Dale started the RV, “And it wasn’t in the CDC.”

* * *

 

“We’re outnumbered.” Aidenn ground her teeth together as Khan removed the compress from her left leg. Blood oozed from the gash and covered her recently cleaned skin. “And my blood is attracting them to us.”

Khan’s bangs were slicked back to give him a better view of the wound. It was shallow compared to what it should have been.  Her flesh had been excised by a piece of a torn car door frame. A wound that should have torn through muscle down to her fibula which Khan knew he would have to explain.

“The bleeding has slowed.” Khan dug through the back compartment of the Escalade and grabbed the first aid kit he hadn’t packed away yet.  He threaded the lone needle with the precision his genetics allowed.  Walkers groaned ahead of them as they tried to find the source of the fresh blood scent. “I placed several dead animals further out from us.” He pulled out some hydrogen peroxide and pressed the opening to a spare scrap of cloth from the window. “That should throw them off for a little while.”

“And if I told you to leave me?”  Aidenn’s gaze shifted away from him and up to the sky as Khan looked up from sewing her wound. “You’re note exactly close to Atlanta but…” She bit her lower lip and returned her gaze to her hand on his shoulder. “You could make it there quicker. I wouldn’t be slowing you down.”

She grunted as he held the skin above what he had left to sew. “You’d only have two states to go through until you hit Georgia.”  Aidenn tried to think of how far back it was since they had passed the sign for Richmond, Virginia.

“This wound,” Khan placed the swatch of cloth onto the now closed wound without warning. Aidenn hissed as the peroxide burned against her skin, “Do you know why it is not as serious as it should have been? Or how your wounds from the cabin are already healed?”

Aidenn cleared her throat and knew she wouldn’t like the answer he was going to give her. “It was me.” Khan cleaned the wound with some water from a half full water bottle and dried it. “I gave you some of my blood while you were passed out. Before we were attacked.”

“But…” Khan watched as her eyes widened and she started to shift closer towards the back seat. “I would.. You can’t just substitute blood from person to person without knowing their blood type.”

Khan chuckled as he slid into the back of the Escalade with her and closed the trunk door.  He helped her navigate the car until she was lying in her spot in the passenger seat. “I was engineered to be better at everything. I can synthesize my blood and use it on others if I desire to do so.”

“So it healed me.” Khan nodded as he pulled the remaining food supplies to the front and placed them in what was left of the spare space on the dash.  

“You should be fully healed in the next two days. We’ll go from there.” He opened one of the waters and passed it to her. “Right now, you need to rest.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> translations
> 
> Was sollen wir machen?- What should we do?
> 
> Bleiben Sie mit ihnen. Für jetzt. Wir benötigen mehr Informationen- Stay with them. For now. We need more information
> 
> Wir brauchen, um Khan zu finden- we need to find Khan. 
> 
> Er war nicht bei den anderen.- he was not with the others.
> 
> Er konnte immer noch da draußen sein. Er konnte immer noch auf der Suche nach uns- He could still be out there. He could still looking for us
> 
> Как ты знаешь?- How do you know?


End file.
